A Taste of Paris: How the City of Light became the City of Food, with NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley

Click to listen to NPR's Paris correspondent Eleanor Beardsley as she hits the streets of the City of Light with author David Downie in search of why, how, when, where and with whom Paris became the great food city of the Western world… You can also read the transcript and see more images of food, markets and Paris.

Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures I shot of Eleanor Beardsley at work in an open market, at shops, over coffee, and at lunch with yours truly.

Bonne promenade gastronomique!

Eleanor Beardsley of NPR at Le Sanglier charcuterie in Paris with owner Marc Fermin

The sound of Le Sanglier's head cheese: yum! Cheeky stuff, delicious…

Fromage de tete, aka Hure, head cheese in English, with pistachios

Eleanor Beardsley mike at the ready, Cafe des Phares, before we plunge into the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir market

Eleanor Beardsley of NPR with the big cheeses of rue St-Antoine

A milk-curdling experience, rue St-Antoine, Paris

Feeling shellfish? Seafood restaurant, Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris

Aw shucks! Gleaning pearls of wisdom from the oyster man of Boulevard Beaumarchais

Still alive and squirming, poor things. Parisians gulp them raw, live, briny…

Stuff that didn't make it into the radio report: Horse flesh, still popular in Paris… hot to trot? The taste is too sweet for me.

Eleanor Beardsley with Jacky Lorenzo, Paris' famed fishmonger… upscale fish only!

Fungus, anyone? Eleanor manages to coax a few words out of the wild mushroom seller and his bosky customers

It's tricky to get some people to talk and even harder to get them to give you their name… no name, no can use in report!

Down to earth shopping: each of Paris' dozens of open markets is popular with all classes. The real deal. Not a picturesque farmers market for bobos, with outlandish prices…